Apparatus for raising a person

ABSTRACT

A system for raising a person lying on the ground includes a lifting seat  10  comprising a back rest  12  coupled to a seat portion  18.  At either side of the back rest  12  and seat portion  18  there are provided side supports  14, 16, 20  and  22.  The system is such that in use it can be slid onto a person lying on his/her side, rotated such that the back rest  12  lies on the ground, with the supports  14-22  supporting the person during rotation to a back-lying position. The back rest  12  can then be rotated upwardly to bring the person into a sitting position.

The present invention relates to apparatus for raising a person,particularly from a lying position.

At present there are severe difficulties in dealing with people who falleither in public areas or in private areas, in particular people who areprone to fall such as the elderly and disabled. Raising people from theground when in a partly or greatly incapacitated state simply by humanforce is strenuous and can be damaging to the person doing the lifting,especially when this is a frequent task.

Devices are known for raising people, which primarily involve hoists andslings. As well as being uncomfortable and degrading to the fallenperson, they are not commonly available due to their bulk and cost.Their lack of availability can also cause problems such as pressuresores which can arise within half an hour if a person is lying awkwardlyon a hard surface.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved raising system forraising a person from a lying position.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is providedapparatus for raising a person lying on the ground as specified in claim1.

In its simplest form, the apparatus can be a moulded plastics member ofvery simple form and therefore relatively cheap. The shape and structureof the apparatus is such that a person lying on the ground can be simplymoved from a side-lying position to a back-lying position and thenraised naturally to, for example, a sitting position. No straps orhoists are required in the preferred embodiment, thereby substantiallyreducing any degrading feeling.

Preferably, the apparatus includes a curved outer surface between theback rest and seat portion, enabling the apparatus to be tilted from thefirst position to the second position. Thus, the person can be simplyraised from the back-lying position into a sitting position. In thepreferred embodiment, the back rest is extended also to provide asupport for the person's head and, in the preferred embodiment, toprovide means by which a helper can raise the back rest to the uprightposition. It will be apparent that the centre of gravity of the personis not moved substantially and that a significant lever action isprovided to reduce the lifting force required, thereby considerablyreducing the effort need to be exerted by the helper.

Preferably, side supports are provided both on the back rest and seatpositions. The side supports can ensure that the person can easily betilted from a side-lying position to a back-lying position. Sidesupports on the seat portion of the apparatus allow the person's legs tobe raised on tilting of the back rest to the first position.

Side supports are preferably provided on both sides of the back restand/or seat portion, thereby enabling the apparatus to be used for aperson lying on his/her left side or right side, without having torotate the person to one or other of his/her left or right sides, aswould be necessary with apparatus having side supports only on one sidethereof.

In an embodiment, there is provided lifting means for lifting the backrest from the first position to the upright position. The lifting meanscould provide the entire lifting force required for raising the personor could provide an assisting force for reducing the lifting forcerequired to be exerted by a helper.

When lifting means are provided, the back rest and seat portion arepreferably in the form of a unitary member, the apparatus including abase pivotally coupled to the unitary member, a lifting means beingdisposed to act between the unitary member and the base.

The lifting means may be hydraulic, mechanical, electrical or of anyother suitable form. The lifting means can include one or more fluidpressure struts or an inflatable bag.

There is preferably provided control means for controlling the amount oflift produced by the lifting means.

Means for locking the unitary member in the second position may beprovided. The advantage of this is that the lifting means and/or helperneed not exert any further lifting force on actuation of the lockingmeans. The unitary member is preferably lockable into a plurality ofupright positions, in dependence upon need and wishes of the user.

In a preferred embodiment, the seat portion is raised above ground levelwhen the back rest is in the second position. This is preferably at asimilar height to a wheelchair, such that the person can be sliddirectly onto a wheelchair or other chair without any further lifting ofthe person.

Preferably, at least one of the side supports is removable, therebyenabling the person to be slid sideways from the apparatus to awheelchair or other chair.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedapparatus for moving a person as specified in claim 10.

An embodiment of the present invention is described below, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram in perspective of an embodiment of personraising apparatus;

FIGS. 2 to 7 are views of the apparatus of FIG. 1 during its use toraise a person lying on the ground;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of personraising apparatus;

FIG. 9 is a base view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a rear view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus of FIG. 8 showingvarious degrees of lifting of a support member of the apparatus; and

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 11 showing the change in the centre ofgravity of a person.

Referring to FIG. 1, the embodiment of apparatus shown (hereinafterreferred to as the lifting seat) is formed of a unitary piece ofmaterial, preferably plastics material, which is relatively thin andcontoured to provide the various operating portions of the seat 10.

The seat 10 includes a back rest 12 which is slightly concave whenviewed from its front side. At an intermediate position along the backrest 12, there are provided two side supports 14, 16 which extendtowards the front of the back rest 12.

At seat portion 18 extends from the lower end of the back rest 12 and isalso provided with side supports 20, 22. The seat 10 is also curvedbetween the back rest 12 and seat portion 18. One or more of the sidesupports 14, 16, 20, 22 may be omitted in other embodiments. Forexample, in a simpler version, side supports may be provided only on oneside of the lifting seat 10. Similarly, the side support(s) on the backrest 12 or those on the seat portion 18 may be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 2, the lifting seat 10 is designed to lift a personwho has fallen to the ground and is unable to raise himself/herself.With the design of seat shown in FIG. 1, the person is first moved to a“recovery” position, that is on his/her side with knees raised to be infront of the person, thereby to place the person in a resting position.This “recovery” position is common in situations of this kind.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the lifting seat 10 is placed on its sideagainst the ground and then slid towards the lying person, such that therelevant side supports 14-22 are slid underneath the person. As shown inFIG. 4, the lifting seat 10 is then rotated on the back rest 12, theside supports 14-22 supporting the person during the rotating action,thereby to rotate the person to a position in which the person is lyingon his/her back with knees raised, as can be seen in FIG. 5.

The lifting seat 10 can then be rotated onto the seat portion 18 so asto bring the back rest 12 into a substantially upright position, asshown in FIG. 7. For this purpose, the back rest 12 is preferably of asufficient length both to support the person's head and also to providea gripping member to be used by a helper raising the person.

It will be apparent from FIG. 7 that the weight of the person on theseat portion 18 will enable the person to rest on the lifting seat 10 inthe sitting position thereby to assist recovery of the person orsubsequent moving of the person by nurses or other people.

The centre of gravity of the person remains relatively unchanged duringthe operation shown in FIGS. 2 to 7. This substantially reduces therotating and lifting forces which must be exerted by a helper andthereby enables a single helper, even an aged person, to raise thefallen person.

The front, support surface of the lifting seat 10 is preferably coveredwith a relatively soft material for comfort. The rear surface of thelifting seat 10 is, as will be apparent from FIGS. 1 to 7, contoured infacilitate rotation of the lifting seat both sideways and into theupright position.

In the preferred embodiment, the front support surface of the liftingseat 10 is designed such that a person can slide relatively easilysideways across the support surface but cannot slide lengthways down theseat 10. The latter feature can be particularly useful when the sidesupports 14, 16 do not support the person in a vertical direction in themanner shown in the embodiment of FIG. 7.

Suitable material for the support surface of the lifting seat 10 may bea velour material suitably oriented, or a ribbed surface. Othermaterials and shapes will be apparent to the skilled person.

Another embodiment of lifting seat 30 is shown in FIGS. 8 to 12. In thisembodiment, a seat portion 32 has a similar shape and configuration tothe lifting seat 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 7. In FIG. 8, the side supports14-22 are not shown but could also be provided.

The seat portion 32 is pivotally coupled to a base member 34, whichincludes a ground support 36 and a side member 38 integral with the basemember 34. The side member 38 is pivotally coupled to a flange 40depending from the seat portion 18′ of the seat portion 32.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show that the embodiment of lifting seat 30 is formedfrom a plurality of tubular or rod sections to reduce weight of thedevice. Although in FIG. 9 the base member is shown to be rectangular,it may be curved to facilitate rotation of the lifting seat 30.

The lifting seat 30 is provided with a lifting mechanism which lifts theseat portion 32 relative to the base member 34. This can be seen fromFIG. 11, in which the lifting mechanism is an inflatable air bag 42. Theair bag can be inflated by any suitable means, for example a gascylinder, electrical or other automatic pump, or a mechanical pump.

As can be seen in FIG. 11, as the bag inflates, it applies pressurebetween the base member 34 and seat portion 32, causing the seat portion32 to pivot gradually towards an upright position.

Other raising mechanisms include a hydraulic jack, which may be handoperated, of gas strut, which could be used by itself or in combinationwith another lifting mechanism such as the air bag, a pressurized gascylinder in combination with the air bag 42 and so on.

FIG. 11 shows that in the preferred embodiment the angle of the flange40 relative to the horizontal is preferably no more than 100°, althoughthis maximum angle is dependent entirely upon the application and userrequirements. In the preferred embodiment, a controller (not shown)controls the raising of the seat portion 32 and enables seat portion 32to be stopped at any suitable angle.

The air bag 42 may have a plurality of air chambers. This can facilitatecontrol of the air bag during inflation and can provide show deflation,for example should it be punctured.

A lock, latch or the like may be provided to lock the seat portion 32 inthe upright position, thereby ending the need for any lifting action bythe lifting means. In the preferred embodiment, the lock, latch or othersystem is preferably of such type that the seat portion 32 can be lockedin a plurality of different positions, possibly in an infinite number ofangles. With such a feature, the air bag 42 may be removable for usewith other devices. As the air bag and pressurization system represent asubstantial proportion of the cost of such a system, this can reduceoverall cost.

As can be seen in FIG. 12, the lifting seat 30 raises the centre ofgravity of the person in the seat, thereby carrying out most of thelifting action required to bring the person into a normal sittingposition. This sitting position is preferably such that the person inthe seat can be slid into a wheelchair or other chair without anyfurther lifting being required. In this case, any side supports providedon seat portion 32 are preferably removable to allow lateral sliding ofthe person on the lifting seat 30.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 8 to 12, there may be provided as sensormechanism which does not allow raising of the seat portion 32 until thelifting seat 30 is detected to be in the back-lying position shown inFIG. 8. The skilled reader would immediately be able to identifysuitable sensors for this purpose.

In both embodiments described herein, there may be provided a belt orstrap to secure the person into the seat.

The embodiment of FIGS. 8 to 12 can be modified for other applications,for example any application in which a person requires assistance inmoving from a substantially lying position to a substantially uprightposition. Typical applications may be for a reclining chair for use byan elderly or disabled person; in a bed, to assist a person to get upfrom the bed; or in a bath or the like.

The dimensions given in Figures, which are in centimetres, are forillustration only.

The disclosures in British patent application Nos. 9519991.5 and9619237.2, from which this application claims priority, and in theabstract accompanying this application are incorporated herein byreference.

What we claim is:
 1. Apparatus for raising a person lying on the groundincluding: a back rest having a curved rear surface allowing theapparatus to be tilted from a first position in which the back rest lieson the ground to a second position in which the back rest is in asubstantially upright position; a seat portion disposed at an angle tothe back rest; and a side support on the back rest or the seat portion,the side support being slidable under the person when the apparatus isplaced in the first position.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe side support is provided on both sides of the back rest or the seatportion.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, including lifting means forlifting the back rest from the first position to the upright position.4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the back rest and seatportion are in the form of a unitary member, the apparatus including abase pivotally coupled to the unitary member, the lifting means beingdisposed to act between the unitary member and the base.
 5. Apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein the lifting means includes a fluidpressure strut.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 3, including controlmeans for controlling the amount of lift produced by the lifting means.7. Apparatus according to claim 3, including locking means to lock theunitary member in the second position.
 8. Apparatus according to claim1, wherein the seat portion is raised above ground level when the backrest is in the second position.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the side support is removable.
 10. Apparatus according to claim4, wherein the lifting means includes an inflatable bag.